n 1540 in
search of the seven cities of Cibola. General J. H. Simpson, U. S. A.,
has written a valuable monograph on "Coronado's March," which can be
found in the Smithsonian Report for 1869.

I intend to avoid statistics and history on the one side, and
extravagant eulogy on the other.

Now we will say good-by to our new friends, take one more look at Point
Loma, and cross the ferry to San Diego.

CHAPTER III.

SAN DIEGO.

"The truly magnificent, and--with reason--famous port of San
Diego."--_From the first letter of Father Junipero in Alto
California._

Fifteen cents for motor, ferry, and car will take you to Hotel Florence,
on the heights overlooking the bay, where I advise you to stop. The
Horton House is on an open, sunny site, and is frequented by
"transients" and business men of moderate means. The Brewster is a
first-class hotel, with excellent table. The Florence is not a large
boarding-house or family hotel, but open for all. It has a friendly,
homelike atmosphere, without the exactions of an ultra-fashionable
resort. The maximum January temperature is seventy-four degrees, while
that of July is seventy-nine degrees, and invalid guests at this house
wear the same weight clothing in summer that they do in winter. The
rooms of this house are all sunny, and each has a charming ocean or
mountain view. It is easy to get there; hard to go away. Arriving from
Coronado Beach, I was reminded of the Frenchman who married a quiet
little home body after a desperate flirtation with a brilliant society
queen full of tyrannical whims and capricious demands. When this was
commented on as surprising, he explained that after playing with a
squirrel one likes to take a cat in his lap. Really, it is so restful
that the building suggests a big yellow tabby purring sleepily in the
sunshine. I sat on the veranda, or piazza, taking a sun-bath, in a happy
dream or doze, until the condition of nirvana was almost attained. What
day of the week was it? And the season? Who could tell? And who cares?
Certainly no one has the energy to decide it. Last year, going there to
spend one day, I remained for five weeks, hypnotized by my
environments--beguiled, deluded, unconscious of the flight of time,
serenely happy. Many come for a season, and wake up after five or six
years to find it is now their home. "There seems to exist in this
country a something which cheats the senses; whether it be in the air,
the sunsh